“Honeytrap” will be like a skewed, tilted version of the more romantic films I’ve done before,” said the multi-awarded Danish writer-director Lone Scherfig to a packed audience of industry delegates Jan. 30, at the opening session of Göteborg’s Nordic Film Market Discovery program.
In an express on-stage interview, the triple Oscar-nominated helmer of “An Education,” said “Honeytrap” will be her first ever Swedish project, based on a script by Pelle Rådström, credited for Netflix’s “Black Crab” and the Swedish show “Pressure Point” which just picked up the Nordic Series Script Award in Göteborg.
“I felt the script (handed out to me by producer Rebecka Hamberger) had everything I love: a thriller element, love and humor. It’s set in the 60s, an era from my early childhood, that I’ve also portrayed in several works including in “An Education.” It’s super good and I’m very confident with it,” said the director who also serves as co-scribe.
Set in 1968, the story turns on Max (28) who attends a Stasi ‘Romeo’ program where agents are trained to seduce secretaries at major Western companies. Inger (25), who works for a Stockholm-based weapon export firm, is an easy target. The information he collects are crucial for the Stasi but as he starts falling for Inger, his secrets and lies become a burden.
“The spine of the story is the love affair between them and whether they can trust each other or not,” said Scherfig who feels as thrilled to dig into the historical background. “It’s 1968 – you have the Russian invasion in Prague, which has an influence on the story” – and the love story set against the Cold War, which can be compared to where we are now. I’m obsessed with that story and the ending is really surprising!”.
Unveiling a few details about the characters, the helmer said Max has a Swedish mother back in Berlin, whose husband was a Nazi officer and therefore can’t go back to Sweden. “Max takes cares of his mother and grand-mother, widowed from WW1, and gets a job in Stockholm as he speaks fluently Swedish.”
Humor will be laced in the storyline via the absurdity of the Stasi agents, sent to Stockholm to learn how Western women have sex and behave. “They have a hotline in their Berlin headquarters where they can call 24 hours, ask psychiatrists what to do, what to say, how to behave. There’s a lot of humor and love,” Scherfig insisted.
Quizzed about possible artistic challenges, the director said it won’t be in the aesthetics, but possibly in finding the right tone. “It’s a strong story. I will need to balance this with Pelle [Rådström]’s humor, find a film that has a tone of its own to make people laugh, cry and feel engaged.”
Producer Hamberger at Art & Bob, the producer of “Pressure Point,” said the project, with an estimated budget of €6.4 million ($6.6 million), is in early development and looking for co-financiers and distributors.
In 2017, Scherfig was honored with a Dragon Award at the Göteborg Film Festival for her body of work and she was handed out the Audience Dragon Award for her feature “Their Finest.”
“Honeytrap” was the only project from the Discovery Co-Production Platform 15 title lineup not vying for the new €15,000 ($15,600) Film Finances Scandinavia Award to be handed out today Jan. 30 in Göteborg.
